Four men jailed over £6m NHS fraud

Telegraph

05-06-2025

Four men have been jailed for a total of 29 years after committing an 'outrageous' £6 million fraud against the Scottish NHS.
Gavin Brown and Adam Sharoudi established an IT firm and used their connections with Gavin Cox and Alan Hush, senior health service employees, to obtain lucrative telecoms contracts, including one valued at more than £3 million.
Their offences, which took place between 2010 and 2017, included bribery, corruption and other offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Hush and Sharoudi were additionally convicted of fraud.
At the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, Brown, 48, and Sharoudi, 41, were jailed for seven and eight years respectively, while Hush, 68, and Cox, 60, were jailed for eight and six years.
Lord Arthurson said while sentencing that each of the men was 'self-serving, arrogant and mendacious', adding they had 'subverted public trust in NHS management'.
A 16-week trial heard that Oricom, the IT firm, did 'acquire, use and possess' a total of £5,719,244 worth of 'criminal property' that was paid for by NHS Lothian, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Luxurious handouts
The firm was founded by Brown in a shed in Irvine, Ayrshire in 2008 and Sharoudi later joined as a director.
Sharoudi became friends with Hush, who was telecommunications manager at NHS Lothian and then NHS Scotland video conferencing manager. Cox was head of IT and infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire.
Their crimes were uncovered by chance after the theft of two NHS-issued mobile phones, which led to thousands of text messages and emails being discovered on multiple laptops, computers and mobiles.
In 2015, Oricom's offices were raided by investigators from NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services.
An investigation found Hush and Cox gave Oricom 'commercially sensitive information' in return for £88,000 worth of cash, gifts and holidays.
Hush was handed Eurostar train tickets, stays at the Troy and Re Hotels in London, a laptop, an iPad, meals and concert tickets to see Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright and Patti Smith for his part in helping Oricom secure the contracts.
Cox's 'rewards' were said to include hospitality at the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, a night at the Loch Green Hotel in Troon and a meal at Elliots in Prestwick, as well as holiday vouchers that funded his trips to New York and Lanzarote. He also denied ever getting a series of cash handouts from Oricom.
In total, Hush was given £18,231 of cash handouts and gifts, while Cox was handed more than £70,000.
'Manipulated' the system
Gordon Young, head of NHS Scotland counter-fraud services, described their actions as 'outrageous'.
'They were in a position of trust within the NHS and they have manipulated the procurement process for their own benefit,' he said.
'We hear every single day from politicians and from people that work in the service about how hard folk are working to try and keep things going.
'The vast majority of NHS workers are honest, hardworking people who have only got their patients' and their services' best interest at heart, but these individuals have taken advantage of the system for their own benefit.
Union leaders, however, said the case highlighted the lack of resources for countering NHS fraud.
Matt McLaughlin, Unison Scotland's head of health, said cuts to backroom services and the use of private companies in the NHS and the wider public sector 'present opportunities for people to behave in this way'.
'I think it's absolutely right for the public to be angry and concerned,' he said.